Chapter 2019: Reunion
Zhang Zitong was completely confused. When she saw his smile, she couldn"t help but ask, “What"s going on?”
“There"s a s.p.a.ce hidden behind this mirror. Someone tried to cover it up through some special techniques, and I reckon it"s probably the work of that Chi Fuzi,” Zu An said. Meanwhile, he tapped the mirror with his finger, moving around some engraved beast statues in the corners.
Afterward, the entire mirror began glowing with a faint green light. Soon after, that light changed based on the surrounding layout, and began to gradually fade away. The spirit screen no longer looked like a wall; instead, ripples spread across its surface as if it were made of water.
Zhang Zitong reached out her finger and lightly touched the surface, causing it to ripple once again. She couldn"t help but exclaim in pleasant surprise, “So there was a s.p.a.ce behind it after all, sir!”
Zu An found her childish reaction rather amusing.
Just how did this woman manage to become a silver token envoy?
Zhang Zitong suddenly cried out in alarm. She seemed to be pulled into the s.p.a.ce, falling straight in.
Zu An’s expression changed. He immediately grabbed her other hand, and felt a powerful suction force from the screen. He realized that it seemed to be the power of the s.p.a.ce and not someone scheming against them.
The two of them were sucked into the spirit screen in the blink of an eye. They felt a sense of weightlessness, then suddenly fell to the ground. Zhang Zitong staggered and couldn"t stand steadily. Fortunately, Zu An was holding her hand and helped her regain her balance.
“Thank you, sir," Zhang Zitong said. When she felt the heat from his hand, her heart beat quickly.
Sir might normally act cold, but he still cares about me deep down. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have immediately entered to grab my hand and save me.
“Are you scared?” Zu An asked. When he sensed her abnormal heartbeat, he was a bit puzzled.
Zhang Zitong wanted to say that she wasn’t scared, but after thinking about it, she nodded in embarra.s.sment, saying, “I"ve never encountered something like this before, so I am a bit scared.” That gave her a proper reason to continue holding onto Sir Eleven’s hand!
Unfortunately, Zu An didn’t give her the chance and naturally let her go, saying, “There’s not much to be scared of. Just follow behind me.”
“Oh,” Zhang Zitong said. She was a bit disappointed, but when she saw how he was protecting her, she immediately felt much better. That put her in the mood to look around. She felt a sense of familiarity from the nearby structures and couldn"t help but become a bit stunned, exclaiming, “Huh? We"re still in our original location?”
“Of course not. This is the world behind the spirit screen,” Zu An said as he walked forward.
Zhang Zitong quickly followed him, remarking, “Huh? It does seem a bit different. Many places here seem to be inverted. Also, the sky is a bit hazy and gloomy-looking.”
Zu An used the jade badge to look around, but he didn’t detect any living creatures around him. His divine sense couldn"t be expanded too far, clearly because the surrounding fog had the ability to block off divine sense. He was already used to having his divine sense always active, so being in this kind of place made him feel as if he had gone blind. It really wasn’t a great feeling.
The two followed a bluestone path; up ahead was another fully enclosed courtyard. One side’s entrance was open, and the bluestone path continued inside.
“These entrances all look exactly the same,” Zhang Zitong said. She turned around and immediately exclaimed in horror, “It looks completely identical to the one we entered from!” Her voice echoed through the courtyard, which added an even stronger sense of eeriness.
However, Zu An was surprisingly calm. He continued to walk forward past the long bluestone path, and the two soon saw that they had once again returned to their original starting point. The screen wall across the gate of the house towered in front of them, but there were no more ripples; instead, it was now hard stone.
“We can’t go back!” Zhang Zitong cried out, trembling a bit. She had no idea what was happening to her either. In the past, whenever she was in these kinds of dangerous situations, she had always been quite tough and quickly thought of solutions. And yet, when she was at Sir Eleven’s side, she became a weak young lady who actually felt scared.
“This thing became a wall after we entered. Did you not notice it back then?” Zu An replied casually while observing the surrounding terrain.
Zhang Zitong blushed with shame. She really had been a bit too careless. She said, “We were clearly walking forward the entire time, so why did we return here?”
“Many formations have similar effects. The s.p.a.ce here has been distorted to some extent, throwing off one’s sense of direction,” Zu An explained while walking forward.
“Could this be a so-called ‘ghostly wall’?” Zhang Zitong asked doubtfully when she saw him continue to walk forward. “Didn’t we walk this way before? Should we try a different path?”
“It does seem similar to a ghostly wall, but this place seems a bit more profound,” Zu An replied. “Normally, after experiencing what just happened, someone would reflexively choose a different route, unaware that they would simply fall into exactly the mindset the enemy wanted them to have. Continue forward. I need to investigate what exactly is going on with the spatial displacement here.” After a pause, he added, “How about you walk in front this time?”
“Huh?” Zhang Zitong asked, feeling shaken up.
Could it be that sir wants me to scout the way and trigger the traps? I heard that there were some ruthless types in the Embroidered Envoy, people who would use their subordinates as cannon fodder. But Sir Eleven shouldn’t be that kind of person, right?
She took a deep breath and said, “Fine!” Then, she stepped forward. However, she wasn"t confident and bold like usual, and instead took very small steps like a young miss raised in a distinguished clan.
When he saw her trembling, Zu An couldn"t help but smile. He said, “Don’t be scared; I"ll make sure to protect you.”
Zhang Zitong sighed in relief. She gathered the courage to ask, “Why does sir need me to walk in front?”
“Two reasons. The first is that I need to be outside the box,” Zu An said directly.
“Outside the box?” Zhang Zitong asked, feeling a bit confused.
Zu An explained, “The one trapped within the puzzle might be baffled, but an onlooker cam see clearly. I need to borrow the long legs you’ve been blessed with as a reference point to study the behavior of this place.”
“Huh?” Zhang Zitong exclaimed in surprise, never having expected that to be the reason. Even though she had always been quite satisfied with her legs, this was the first time she had heard of such a use for them. When she saw that Zu An was being serious, she didn’t let herself think wayward thoughts for fear of disrupting his line of thinking. She asked, “Then what about the other reason?”
“Oh, it’s just that in this kind of tense situation, being able to admire such beautiful legs will improve my mood a bit. Who knows, it might even help me come up with the solution,” Zu An said with a smile.
“Sir~” Zhang Zitong pouted playfully.
Is he flirting with me right now?
“You don’t feel as nervous as you were earlier anymore, right?” Zu An asked suddenly, looking at her.
“I do feel much more at ease," Zhang Zitong said. She thought to herself, So sir did this to help me with my nervousness. I was going to say, how could someone as serious as sir flirt with me?
However, she felt a mysterious sense of sadness when she thought of that.
As they continued along the long bluestone path, the two chatted happily. They eventually arrived at a courtyard with entrances on all four sides. They chose the door right in front of them again, only to arrive at the next bluestone path. Sure enough, they returned back to the same spot they had entered from.
This was a really sinister place, but when Zhang Zitong thought about how Sir Eleven was looking at her legs from behind, she didn’t feel as cold anymore. Instead, she felt as if there were a wave of heat crawling up her legs.
“So that was what was going on,” Zu An suddenly said.
Zhang Zitong was startled, asking, “What is sir thinking about?”
“It seems as if we’ve returned to the same point, but in reality, it’s not. The one who created this formation deliberately made this place seem more mysterious by making all of the buildings identical to confuse the ones trapped. It"s to subconsciously make you feel as if you"ve returned to the starting point no matter what you do. That way, you"d feel more and more alarmed and make all kinds of incorrect judgments.”
While speaking, Zu An took out a formation disc. His fingers moved quickly, and small flags flew out in all directions in the air. Then, he grabbed a clump of formation papers and tossed them out. They quickly scattered and turned into small paper cranes. They flapped their wings and flew in the direction of those formation flags.
Zhang Zitong’s eyes widened, because she saw several small specks of light move across Sir Eleven’s formation disc. They clearly represented the paper cranes that had just left. As the specks of light spread out, the formation disc gradually produced a three-dimensional map.
She asked, “What is this?”
“Complete Hologram Formation,” Zu An said. This was a formation he had created by borrowing some concepts from the Baopu Sutra and his knowledge of science from his previous world, together with Yan Xiangu’s help. It specialized in exploring unknown places. The only flaw was that in order to activate it, the user had to have a rough idea of the terrain they were exploring.
“When did sir become so skilled at formations?” Zhang Zitong asked, feeling quite perplexed.
“I learned it recently," Zu An replied casually.
Zhang Zitong was speechless.
Formation and runes contain such wide-ranging and profound knowledge; who in the world could reach your level if they just started recently?
...
While they were chatting, a complete map took form on the formation disc. Zu An gave it a look and said with a smile, “So it was there.” Then, he quickly led Zhang Zitong and ran forward. Sure enough, things were different with a map.
“Slow down, I can’t keep up!” Zhang Zitong cried out, gasping for air. At first, she was trying to remember the way, but then Zu An took her left and right through the courtyard. Sometimes, he even went back a segment. Then, the scenery before them immediately became different from before. After they circled a few times, she was almost about to faint from dizziness. She decided to just close her eyes and just let Zu An do whatever he wanted.
After an unknown amount of time pa.s.sed, the sound of wind by her ears finally stopped. Then, she finally opened her eyes again, still feeling lingering fear. A different courtyard appeared in front of her. Sitting at the very center was a woman with hair reaching all the way to her bottom, her eyes closed in meditation. Next to the woman, the Empress Lantern cast down a gentle radiance, enveloping everything within ten meters around her.
“Yun Jianyue!” Zhang Zitong exclaimed softly in shock, but also fear. She hadn’t expected them to actually enter the place where the Devil Sect Master was cultivating in seclusion! This was a wanted criminal of the court! If they captured her, forget about being forgiven for her crimes, perhaps she would even be able to become an Embroidered Envoy again.
She was just about to draw her weapon when Zu An moved first. However, the Empress Lantern seemed to have sensed intruders and immediately erupted with light, surrounding his entire body.
“Sir, be careful!” Zhang Zitong exclaimed. She naturally knew just how formidable Yun Jianyue’s Empress Lantern was. If one were to be surrounded by its light, one wouldn’t be able to move at all, becoming a vulnerable target. However, she was soon stunned. Black vortexes appeared around Sir Eleven’s entire body; the light couldn"t touch him at all, as it was all sucked into the vortexes.
Sir is so much stronger than I imagined...
Zu An walked forward a bit. He was about to reach Yun Jianyue when a poignant crescent moon hacked toward him at a vicious angle.
Zhang Zitong was really nervous now. That was Yun Jianyue’s famous weapon, the Crescent Ring! Countless experts had died under its blade. However, the following scene made her rub her eyes in confusion. The Crescent Ring didn’t attack Sir Eleven; instead, it danced around him, as if it was really excited.
“Just what is going on?” Zhang Zitong wondered, feeling completely bewildered. Even so, she didn"t dwell on that, since this was a good thing. Sir Eleven wasn"t in front of that witch, who seemed to be asleep in secluded cultivation. Now was the perfect time to dominate... her?